Williams gets life sentence for 1994 murder

DNA evidence connected Williams to stabbing victim Charlotte Ivey

Assessing Kerry Don Williams’ punishment — a life sentence in the death of Charlotte Ivey 19 years ago — was a swift decision for a Lubbock County jury Thursday.

The six-man, six-woman panel was out for only 18 minutes and asked only to review the judgments in his prior criminal offenses before delivering the sentence.

Deliberations that led to Williams’ conviction earlier in the afternoon took more than 2½ hours, and finished just after lunch.

Re-examined DNA evidence from Ivey’s fingernails and blue jeans led Lubbock police to Williams, who was already serving a prison sentence for attempted aggravated sexual assault when he was charged with the murder.

A patron coming to do laundry in an all-night laundromat near 34th Street and Avenue W found Ivey, a 44-year-old divorced and homeless mother of four, dead on the floor between two rows of washing machines.

A single stab wound in the chest was the cause of death.

Several family members attended the trial, but opted not to speak to reporters after the verdict and sentencing.After District Judge Brad Underwood pronounced sentence, lead prosecutor Sunshine Stanek read a statement from the family members as the sole impact statement.

“Charlotte Ivey was very loved, and is very missed,” the statement said. “Our family was under the impression that our mom was thought a homeless woman and we would never find out what monster did this, when in fact that was very far from the truth.”

During the punishment phase, the prosecution offered no witnesses and presented information about Williams’ prior offenses: two convictions as an adult for attempted aggravated sexual assault and a two-count juvenile conviction for sexual assault against a minor when he was 14 years old.

Both of his adult convictions involved crimes committed after Ivey’s murder.

Stanek, however, referred to comments in the juvenile file from a probation officer referring to Williams’ “extreme sexual disorder,” and expressing concerns that he posed “a real danger” to the community.

Williams’ father, Edward Williams of Levelland, testified for the defense in the punishment phase, explaining that he and his wife divorced when Kerry Williams was about 3 years old.

He said he gained custody of his son about four years later after his ex-wife one bitter day in January “put the boy outside for punishment” wearing only a pair of shorts, without a coat or shoes.

Edward Williams said Levelland police “picked up my son, brought him to my house and asked if I was going to get custody.”

Kerry Williams, now 37, was serving a 30-year sentence for his 2004 conviction, and was first eligible for parole in 2006. According to Texas Department of Criminal Justice files, he had a projected release date of July 2015.

It was unclear Thursday night whether Williams’ life sentence would run concurrently with the time remaining from his 2004 conviction, or if the new sentence would begin when that one ends.

Williams would be eligible for parole after serving 30 years of the life sentence.

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The impact statement

The text of an impact statement lead prosecutor Sunshine Stanek read into the record on behalf of Charlotte Ivey’s family after the jury sentenced Kerry Don Williams to life in prison for Ivey’s murder.

“You could not have chosen a worse victim than you did that cold night in January.

“Charlotte Ivey was a mother of four, and has seven grandchildren.

“She had lived an extremely hard life. She had gone through more than most ever have and ever will. She never had anything easy in her entire life, or even in death.

“She was very loved, and is very missed.

“Our family has been under the impression that our mom was thought a homeless woman and we would never find out what monster did this, when in fact that was very far from the truth.

“And we would like to thank all of the detectives, police and scientists, jury, and her attorneys for the respect and hard work you put into her case.

“Her children were either unaware of her sleeping in that laundromat, or unable to provide for her, but that would have soon changed if she hadn’t been murdered.”